Rasberry Berets?!

This is what it sounds like when doves cry.
FORT BENNING, Ga. — Following the death of music legend Prince, Army Airborne has admitted that a long suspected myth about their maroon berets is true: the berets are actually raspberry colored.

“They are, in fact, raspberry berets,” said Lt. Col. Korey Brown, Commander of 1st Battalion, 507th Airborne. “The 1-507th Airborne School was reactivated in 1985, the same year Raspberry Beret was released. Prince was winning Grammys, and with Gorbachev stirring the pot we were preparing to win wars. It made perfect sense.”

The color of the berets, worn by elite airborne forces around the world, was adjusted by three shades to reach a more raspberry tone and the school’s leaders continued looking to the artist for inspiration as the fledgling battalion grew.

“Prince’s band was called Revolution and that’s what we were having in the eighties,” said Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, Commander of the Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps. “New Airborne school, fresh command, updated technologies.”
“And if we wanted increased student numbers we needed to show that with us, you didn’t have to be rich to get the girls,” Townsend said. “You didn’t have to be cool to patrol our world. We had particular skills you’d be compatible with; we just wanted your extra time and your kiss. I mean kits. Jump kits. We needed you to use our jump kits.”

Noted for the ability to deploy anywhere in the world with little warning and drop in behind enemy lines, Airborne has a proud history, but some say it’s time to shift gears. A February Army Times article questioned if the program is now too impractical and disconnected from modern war to be effective. Townsend says these critiques, combined with the passing of Prince, have encouraged him to step forward about the raspberry berets.

“If you mix the red, white and blue of our flag’s colors together it makes purple,” he said. “And when our paratroopers come soaring down from the skies to enforce freedom and justice, guess what? That’s purple rain.”

“And just like Prince, the legends of Airborne will go on forever no matter what the future holds.”

"Freedom isn't free" --Colonel Walter Hitchcock
“The most important six inches on the battlefield is between your ears.” General 'Mad Dog' James Mattis
non semper erit aestas- It will not always be summer (be prepared for hard times)!!

I lived near Ft Bragg for 15 years and often when I saw a raspberry beret it reminded me of Prince's song.

Heraclitus:
“Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn't even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.”

Thumbs down.....ahhh come on G!! I was a paratrooper at Bragg and even I think the article was funny.

"Freedom isn't free" --Colonel Walter Hitchcock
“The most important six inches on the battlefield is between your ears.” General 'Mad Dog' James Mattis
non semper erit aestas- It will not always be summer (be prepared for hard times)!!

The one that used to get under my skin was being called a dope on a rope.

Heraclitus:
“Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn't even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.”

Yes I was a pro at falling out of perfectly good aircraft......I have both badges....

Dope on a rope may have applied to me on some days.....

"Freedom isn't free" --Colonel Walter Hitchcock
“The most important six inches on the battlefield is between your ears.” General 'Mad Dog' James Mattis
non semper erit aestas- It will not always be summer (be prepared for hard times)!!

"Freedom isn't free" --Colonel Walter Hitchcock
“The most important six inches on the battlefield is between your ears.” General 'Mad Dog' James Mattis
non semper erit aestas- It will not always be summer (be prepared for hard times)!!

I'd like to try a parachute before I die, (just not RIGHT BEFORE I die)

“Man’s mind is his basic tool of survival. Life is given to him, survival is not. His body is given to him, its sustenance is not. His mind is given to him, its content is not. To remain alive, he must act, and before he can act he must know the nature and purpose of his action. He cannot obtain his food without a knowledge of food and of the way to obtain it. He cannot dig a ditch-or build a cyclotron-without a knowledge of his aim and of the means to achieve it. To remain alive, he must think." John Galt (Ayn Rand)

Patents are not evil, profit is not a dirty word, providing for your family's future is not a sin, and what is mine is not your's just because you want it. Kellory.I have received NO secret government orders.(Watch for this notice to be removed)

Until 1983, Special Forces didn't have the "Special Forces" tab above the Airborne patch. That meant anyone assigned in any capacity to a Special Forces unit and was jump qualified looked the same as those who were SF qualified.

PS: To get behind enemy lines and be a major PITA.

Heraclitus:
“Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn't even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.”

I am not sure how that is being handled....
But I would assume that if you deploy while on jump status....you would continue with jump pay under an "exception" to the monthly requirements .

"Freedom isn't free" --Colonel Walter Hitchcock
“The most important six inches on the battlefield is between your ears.” General 'Mad Dog' James Mattis
non semper erit aestas- It will not always be summer (be prepared for hard times)!!

Well, for my 2 cents (that is all it's worth) any fool jumping out of a operational aircraft needs his head examined - not a jump tab and a 'raspberry beret.' Maybe a sign hung around his/her neck saying "Enemies of my country: look upon me and fear. Fear my insanity! I jump out of aircraft to satisfy my insanity! And, I will jump down throat, grab your entails and rip them from your body. Fear me and my insanity!" I tried jumping, twice - NO THANK YOU! I was lucky not to crap myself. Now we know why you two old war dogs ( @Yard Dart and @Tikka ) have got screws loose!

Now repelling out of a helicopter might be different as I have a lot of experience repelling (mountaineering) and one is holding onto a rope and in control but jumping? Forget about it.

"It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from its government."
"An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject."
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."